Sound Walk

Eyes closed, ears pricked up. aifoon's blindfolded walks make you reflect on the wealth of sounds around you.

On a sound walk you are taken by the hand and guided blindly. Suddenly you hear a lot more and you become aware of the sounds that surround us every day.

To put it in the words of urban planner Violette Schönberger: “Isolate the senses and concentrate your perception solely on sound. A world of nuances opens up. (...) With closed eyes there sounds so much more. (in Dutch)

(c) Femke Den Hollander
(c) Femke Den Hollander

A blind walk with converted helmets was developed for the TRACK city festival (2012, S.M.A.K.)

"Soon you succeed more and more in focusing on the sounds of the city, and you quickly notice how (relatively) quiet the urban environment can suddenly be, for example just by turning into another street." Martin Desloovere during TRACK (S.M.A.K.).

Different types of soundwalks

aifoon has different types of soundwalks: with or without the use of technology, with or without the use of sound or voice. Some walks you have to do independently, some in duo, others in group.

The walk can be a choreographed score or an improvisation with extra audio elements, for example from a speaker that the walkers carry on their backs. The sound composition coming from the speakers interferes with the sounds of everyday life. Not only do you start listening to your surroundings in a different way, passers-by suddenly pick up on the unexpected sounds and become more aware of their listening.

Examples of speaker walks are:

Our installation 'De Zwerm', which is currently being developed and consists of 20 wireless speakers in a network, can also be used to do sound walks.

If you want tips and tricks to make your own soundwalk, go to our Wikifoon.

Just like a sound massage and audio hacking, a sound walk is a method to explore listening during our participatory projects, artistic workshops and masterclasses.